Five Ways To Stay Healthy On Your Wedding Day

Brides dread the possibility of being sick on their wedding day. No bride wants a nose red from the sniffles or a cold so here are a few preventive measures to keep your body healthy and in tip top shape.

 

Photo courtesy of Honest Tea

 

My personal favorite, Honest Tea's Green Tea with Honey.  Honest Tea has Epigallocatechin gallate. Wow, what the heck is that mouthful? Well aside from this specific Honest Tea being a tasty drink, it is full of EPCG and it's powerful antioxidants. Scientists posit that it may protect our cells from oxidative damage from free radicals. Chronic diseases associated with free radical damage include cancer, arteriosclerosis, heart disease and faster aging. It can also protect our cells from ultraviolet and radiation damage. But best of all, it MAY (and I only say may) be effective in promoting fatv oxidation and LOWERING OF BODY WEIGHT. Hmmm... what bride (or mother of the bride) wouldn't love to lose a few pounds, have better looking skin just from drinking some green tea? It's also a well known cold remedy. Read more about EPCG here or here.

 

Photo courtesy of Purell

 

Winter, spring, summer or fall, many of us suffer from allergies, and even if we don't we're surrounded by people who are and their germ-laden sneezes.  Purell won't stop the sneezes but it can help stop the person to person spread of germs. Keep a purse size Purell Hand Sanitizer with you (they also make sprays and wipes along with the handy gels) and have an effective defense against germs left on doors, shopping carts and other contaminated surfaces.

 

Nasal Flow Neti Pot by NeilMed Pharmaceuticals

 

Suffering from an upper respiratory infection? Rhinitis, sinusitis, nasal allergies and dryness, post nasal drip, other sinus problems, nasal congestion from flu or colds and other causes all have been shown to be relieved by using these clever little pots. So if you suffer from some of the symptoms above, give a Neti Pot by NasalFlo a try.

 

Photo courtesy of Stonyfield Organic Yogurt

 

Some studies have shown that just a cup a day of low fat yogurt can reduce you susceptibility to colds by 25%. Researchers suggest that the beneficial bacteria in the yogurt my stimulate production of immune system substances that fight disease. I know what I'm piling in my grocery cart next trip! Read more health tips and advice from the nutritionists at Stoneyfield here. Sure sounds to me like a lot of really good reasons for buying yogurt. (Oh, you have to eat it, not just store it in your frig.)

 

Photo courtesy of Cold-Eeze.

 

There are debates about whether Cold-Eeze works, but some studies have shown it can cut the length of your cold in half if you take it at the first sign of a cold. Worth a try, especially if you feel like your about to come down with a cold a few days before your wedding. Just one more product that can help you have a happy and healthy beginning to your married life. The company offers a satisfaction guarantee, so it's worth the investment!

 

So stay healthy and if you can't stay healthy use something to make your allergies and cold more comfortable. And enjoy your big day!

 

 

 

 

 

Brideorexia

“Brideorexia” is the newest eating disorder on the block. Coined in response to the way brides-to-be are using unhealthy ways to lose large amounts of weight, a brideorexic is a bride who risks her long term health in the attempt to look slim and svelte for her wedding day. 

Most recently the Brits became concerned when Prince William’s then fiancee, Katherine Middleton seemed to be rapidly slimming down in front of their eyes.  After watching William’s mother, Princess Di, and her fight with eating problems and its co-morbidities, seeing Katherine Middleton (now Prince William’s bride) losing pounds almost daily in the tabloids became a concern. 

Today’s brides (royal or not) are bombarded with advertising for ways to weigh less and slim down for their wedding. If they were hovering on the edge of anorexia, getting engaged can push them over the edge into Brideorexia and possibly long term anorexic behaviors in an attempt to fit into a bridal gown sizes smaller than they usually wear. To add insult to injury the makers of bridal gowns size them so if you are usually a size eight, their dress only fits you in a size 12. Talk about making a woman feel fat!

We also have television shows like Shedding for the Wedding and new exercise programs designed just for brides known as ‘bridal boot camps.’  In prior years you saw articles about ‘losing baby weight’ in women’s magazines, but bridal magazines had little or no discussion about weight loss. Now bridal magazines have taken up the ‘lose weight’ chant.  They’ve also picked up advertising dollars by littering their ad pages with ads for everything from exercise programs (like the aforementioned bridal boot camps) to ads for products like liquid diets or ads for your local gym. Wedding magazines also have articles encouraging brides-to-be to lose those pre-wedding pounds and suggesting ways to do it.  

A research group at Cornell said approximately 70% of brides-to-be are concerned about losing weight for their weddings. Most want to lose about 20 pounds, but some want to lose more. Some brides-to-be don’t just want to slim down; they want to lose an unhealthy amount of weight using unhealthy means. The 10% who tip over into Brideorexia use things like extreme liquid diets, laxatives and extreme exercise programs that are designed to work off every calorie they consume and more.  

A healthy bride is a beautiful bride. Brides-to-be need to concentrate on healthy eating habits. If this results in weight loss because they’ve corrected poor eating habits and late night pizza binging that can only result in a healthier bride. But the brides whose new food group is laxatives are on a slippery slope to full blown anorexia after the wedding. Brideorexia can take a formerly slightly overweight bride and turn her life into one that mirrors the that of Karen Carpenter and other famous anorexics.

So if you’re planning on getting married be aware of the pitfalls of Brideorexia. If you want to lose pounds (and dress sizes) find a healthy eating program and combine it with a healthy exercise program.  Talk to your physician and have him monitor your weight loss and suggest appropriate life style modifications in eating and exercise. And speaking of exercise(even though I’m not getting married…I’m off to the gym! Bye!